The cable industry and service providers worldwide have embraced Layer 2 Ethernet services as defined by the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF). The Metro Ethernet Forum has defined a new class of Ethernet, called “Carrier Ethernet” which includes support for Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) Emulation services and several Ethernet service types, attributes, and parameters to support the adoption of Ethernet beyond the local area network (LAN) to a Carrier-provided service for business and residential end-users. Industry drivers for Carrier Ethernet include service providers, equipment manufacturers, the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the Telecommunication Standardization Sector of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU-T). It is critical that worldwide standards are defined so that service providers and equipment suppliers may offer standards-based products to end-users. Service providers, including cable Multiple System Operators (MSOs), have offered Metro Ethernet services for years. Recently the Metro Ethernet Forum emerged defining services, technical specifications, and certification standards for carriers and vendors alike; this was pivotal in worldwide adoption of Carrier Ethernet services. Today, telecommunications providers are positioning Carrier Ethernet services against legacy technologies like Frame Relay, TDM Private Line, Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET), and even newer technologies such as Layer 3 MPLS VPNs (also known as IP VPNs).
The challenge facing the cable industry is to define a network architecture that enables the full range of MEF-defined Carrier Ethernet services that may be carried over a DOCSIS network infrastructure with the least impact on capital investment and operations, while assuring immediate network-wide readiness, support for end-to-end Quality of Service and service management.
The following acronyms may appear in the following detailed description:
BSoD—Business Services over DOCSIS
CableLabs—Cable Television Laboratories, Inc.
CE—Customer Edge
CIR—Committed Information Rate
CMTS—Cable Modem Termination System
CPE—customer premise equipment
DOCSIS—Data over Cable Service Interface Specification; CableLabs Certified™ Cable
Modem Project
E-Line—Ethernet Line
ELAN—Ethernet Local Area Network
EPL—Ethernet Private Line
EVC—Ethernet Virtual Circuit
EVPL—Ethernet Virtual Private Line
EVP-Tree—Ethernet Virtual Private-Tree
IEEE—Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
IETF—Internet Engineering Task Force
ITU-T—Telecommunication Standardization Sector of the International Telecommunications Union
L2TP—Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol
L2TPV2/L2TPv3—Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) version 2 and version 3
LAN—Local Area Network
MP-to-MP—Multipoint-to-Multipoint
MPLS—Multi Protocol Label Switching
MSOs—Multiple System Operators
OAM&P—Operation, Administration, Maintenance and Provisioning
PacketCable™—CableLabs-led initiative to develop interoperable interface specifications for delivering advanced, real-time multimedia services over two-way cable plant
PSN—Packet Switched Network
Pt-to-MP—Point-to-Multipoint
PWE—Pseudo wire Emulation
PWE3—Pseudowire Emulation Edge to Edge
QoS—Quality of Service
RFC—Request for Comment
SONET—Synchronous Optical Networking
TDM—Time Division Multiplexing
ToS—Type of Service
UNI—User Network Interface
VLAN—Virtual Local Area Network
VPLS—Virtual Private LAN Service
VPWS—Virtual Private Wire Service